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Beyond the Limits of Human Possibilities
Antonina Samoilova is the first Ukrainian climber to twice climb Everest, the highest peak on the planet. Antonina Samoilova climbed Everest in 2022 and 2023. She also climbed the second peak in the world and the first in difficulty, K2. Antonina began her sporting journey relatively recently, in 2018, with an ascent to the highest point in Africa, Kilimanjaro (5895 m above sea level).
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Now Antonina wants to cope with the most difficult task - on the edge of human capabilities, and even beyond. This is an oxygen-free climb to an eight-thousander.
If she succeeds, Antonina will become the only active climber having managed to make such a dangerous climb. An oxygen-free climb to Manaslu, whose height reaches 8163 meters, is a colossal risk.
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We caught up with the intrepid climber as she made final preparations for the death-defying climb.
A charming woman with gorgeous thick black hair. Such women are rather worth the podium. However, she finds peace on the sky-high Himalayan peaks. Why does she need the Himalayas and a game with death with a probability of losing 50:50?
Infobox by ZN.UA
Manaslu is the eighth highest eight-thousander in the world. Climbing to such a height implies many dangers, including altitude sickness. At an altitude of more than eight thousand meters, the level of oxygen in the air decreases by 35–32% compared to normal and the so-called “death zone” begins. The oxygen concentration is so low that the cells of the human body die, and the level of oxygen in the blood decreases fourfold. At these altitudes, a climber can only take about one step per minute. The feelings while staying at such a height are very harsh: climbers feel as if they have a bag tied on their head, which does not allow them to breathe freely. In addition to basic symptoms such as increased fatigue, headaches, nausea and apathy, at altitudes of this level there is a risk of high-altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema.
“Antonina, how do you prepare for the ascent? How do you expand your lung capacity? Do you stimulate hemoglobin synthesis?”
“I don’t do any special training as the fatigue after Everest has not yet passed. My dad is a wrestling coach and physiologist. He advised me to sleep more, since during sleep the body recovers. So I sleep a lot, I even take sleeping pills. And vitamins. I need to recover quickly from Everest.”
“When was Everest?”
“I climbed to the top on May 24. Moreover, being sick with Covid.”
“Wow! But tell me, how can you climb without oxygen into the death zone? Have you tried this at lower altitudes?”
“Yes. If you are above seven thousand, it is much more difficult to move, as if there is a concrete slab lying on you. Every movement requires enormous effort. Above eight thousand, in the “death zone”, it is even more difficult. Walking speed slows to one step per minute. Thinking also slows down – it’s as if you are in a parallel reality.”
“But you’re with a team, right? You’re not alone, are you?”
‘For example, when climbing Everest (almost nine thousand meters), everyone has their own Sherpa guide who accompanies them from Kathmandu to the top. The process is complex. I’ve been to Everest twice, eight thousand several times, and I don’t fully understand how they do it. The Sherpas drop off the necessary things, food and oxygen in advance, first to the second base camp, then to the third. This is a whole system that works besides you. You come to base camp with everything ready and go through acclimatization. And then there’s summitpush, exit to the top. It takes about five days to get from base camp to the top of Everest. Everyone in the camp has oxygen. They use oxygen to go to the toilet, which, in fact, does not exist, they sleep with oxygen, etc.”
“Is it true that they climb Everest in a single column, but if you feel bad or get into trouble, no one will help you except your Sherpa?”
“This is true. And you can’t blame someone for anything. When you are at an altitude of eight thousand meters, you must understand that all responsibility lies only with you. Nobody can give you any guarantees. It’s not for nothing that this zone is called the “death zone.” There, a person cannot exist without equipment, much less think about other people. But sometimes they save you. Recently, my Malaysian friend Ravi was rescued from 8500 meters on Everest. Sherpa carried him down on his back. But such cases are very rare.”
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“Do I get you right: you are walking, and there are corpses on both sides of the path?”
“Now this is no longer the case.”
“Was it?”
“When I climbed Everest for the first time last year, this was already not true. However, it used to be – all the corpses in the entire history of ascents remained there. Now many families are willing to pay to have the body of a deceased relative returned. There are fewer corpses. It’s really terrible when you see a frozen body lying there like a mannequin. You know that a man died in 2019, literally before the summit, and looks like he was laying down to rest. I saw him last year. Another one lay in a crevice, almost at the top, many do not see the body. This year I saw another dead person – literally a few meters from the fourth camp.”
“Before your oxygen-free ascent to Manaslu, another Ukrainian climber made an oxygen-free ascent of an eight-thousander. Who is she?”
“This is Maria Khitrikova. She’s a professional alpinist and rock climber. In 2011, she climbed two eight-thousanders in Pakistan. Then she tried to climb Elbrus. During the descent, due to bad weather, the group lost its route. Maria died. I only found out about it a few weeks ago.
“Do you understand that you can die too?”
“Probably not (laughs). If a person understands that they may die, they does not undergo such a test. I’m hoping for the best. ...My mother had cancer. And when literally three days before her death the doctor said that there was no need to buy any more medicine, I begged him, asked him to save my mother, did not believe until the last minute that the worst would happen... My brain cuts off the possibility of a negative result.”
“Do many people climb Manaslu?”
“A lot! The company I work with alone has 85 climbers climbing with me, not counting the Sherpas. In the base camp everyone has tents, but in the high-altitude camps there are not enough of them, but everything is thought out: someone goes up, someone goes down - a kind of rotation, and everyone can be accommodated. For many, Manasla is training for Everest.”
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“When does the ascent begin?”
“On September 11 we go to the base camp. The ascent itself is planned for the end of September or even beginning of October. Nobody knows for sure, we will catch weather windows.”
“What menu does a climber have at base camp?”
“The menu is quite varied, there are three meals a day. Breakfast is quite standard – eggs, porridge, toast. For dinner there is always soup. The diet includes a lot of rice and noodles. There is also curry – chicken, vegetables. What I love the most, is the dish sometimes served as a dessert – deep-fried bananas. This is delicious!”
“Who are your family?”
“Husband, no children yet. That's why I gallop through the mountains. I have a brother, a sister, a little nephew and a dad. Dad and brother defend Ukraine in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
“What is the main goal of your ascent?”
“Firstly, I want Ukraine to take its rightful place in the world arena of high-altitude mountaineering. In addition, such ascents for climbers are a real pushthelimit – an opportunity to see the limit of their capabilities.”
You can track the progress of the expedition on Instagram at the link.
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